“Science proves … eternity is an illusion,” by Bruce Baker

Time and Space are one in the Eternal Mind …. just what the hell does that mean anyway?

Have you ever sat in on some swami or some wise man, or woman, and listened to their words of wisdom, and sometimes folly, as they “PERCEIVE” the truth of the universe around us?

Now wait a minute … there is .. in fact, .. and in the study of science, some validity to what they perceive, believe it or not.

Why just look at the ground you stand upon. You perceive it to be solid, or at least solid enough for you to stand upon, and in some ways it is is eternal compared to your short span of years, but if you were to look at it in thousands of years, or hundreds of thousands of years, … it would be a liquid that moves and seems to be alive. We see some of this “aliveness” with time-lapse-photography, don’t we.
So too, when you consider the strange perceptions of the disjointed minds of “wise-men” you should consider where they get their perceptions from … from the world around them that puts these silly ideas in their head, of course. (No, it wasn’t all from incense, drugs, and meditation.)

What has this to do with Aikido?

We have our own wise-man, the founder, and when I look at his words, his thoughts across time and space in comparison to his culture, his knowledge of science, and his experiences in the world around him .. I ask myself … what kind of drugs was this guy on! (Just kidding) No, I ask myself .. where is the science in nature that the man was trying to perceive with his instincts and his experiences in the world around him?

In the examination of the thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of years past in the history of our planet earth … all you know for this life, for this time of existence is an illusion, but .. it is our illusion in the context of our existence and our lives. We are here to live-out an existence that is to contribute, in some small measure, to the next generation of life that will come to be on space-ship earth. Question is .. how important are we in this contribution, and are we strong enough in mind and body to grasp how UN-important, as well as important, we are in the chain of events that affect not only those people around us … but people around them, and people ten generations down the line?

Giant skeletons from eons in the past, and the remnants of civilizations passed into time and space all around us, we look at what has come before us and what nature leaves for us to find so we can learn from what has come before, right?

I read how wise men can conquer time and space with just the concentration of their thoughts, but I know it is the illusion of the mind that is affected by chemical imbalances that creates these random thoughts, and yet … if you look … the earth does move .. we are .. floating on a liquid-like rock that is floating on a devilishly hot sun that burns beneath our feet. Indeed, the perception that energy flows through us and around us may be a drug induced perception, but indeed science continues to prove .. there is energy all around us as our living planet spins day after day and circles our sun year after year.

WHAM .. you hit the mat … and wonder .. how that person dropped you as if you were a crash test dummy!

Was that the universe, or the selfish intentions of one person?

Step back … take yourself out of the context of being the person on the mat … seeing stars … wondering if you will get a chance to slam your practice partner as hard as they have just slammed you … and see the science at work.

In a few minutes .. practice will be over. In a few more minutes, you will be a wink in the eternity of time and space as all your years slip by as you look back on your life before the big dirt nap, but as this moment … it is an eternity until that day, that distant distant future.

Maybe I see too much in the words that people leave for others to follow as they realize … one day .. all there will be of me is words.

Maybe … I read too much into the words of wise men as I begin to understand they didn’t know anything about science, but deep inside their minds was a connection to nature that was trying to understand the science of the world around us.

The more I learn about the catastrophes of the last 10,000 years human beings have struggled to create civilizations, while either nature or science cause our advances in civilization to be pushed back again and again to the stone age with each destructive event, .. the more I understand how deluded we are about the importance of the human race, and how unimportant any person really is in the face of science and nature. And yet … without one person … that ONE IMPORTANT PERSON who makes a difference .. we would still be in the stone age.

YOU … as a practitioner of Aikido … seek a goal you can never attain. And yet … for as long as your body will allow to practice, to participate in the social interaction, you will continue because in many ways … nature and science calls you to seek something you cannot perceive with thought, with logic, with all you education or life experiences.

It is only now … later in life … I begin to understand the balances of nature fighting against the forces of destruction as the destructive forces also are the forces that allow for rebirth and creation also.

From the violence of our animal nature … the practice of Aikido takes into account the social magnetism of our tribal gatherings, the violent nature of our animal nature, and the creative perception of our inner minds as we attempt to work out with social interaction an education process that reminds us of not only where we came from in the history of human kind, but the future we would like to see the human race become. It is no less science fiction than it is science because we are attempting to cause behavioral modification by interaction thereby causing the human being to seek knowledge beyond perception with both education and experience.

Hey, ya can’t just read words on a page to learn aikido … it is a hands on learning process, isn’t it?

What is my point?

Well, when you finally hit the mat, and all the stars begin to fade as you look around … and you realize that what you felt was the temporary pain of reality … maybe you should also think about how the world around us is alive, moving, and how what you are doing is not only relevant to your life-time, you time of being alive, but will ripple through both present and future time also. Yeah, the ripples of your being alive will stretch out across time and space, but right now … you are training in a piece of the puzzle for martial arts, and .. maybe … learning to open your mind to greater things found in science too.

The relevance of your training will influence how you handle situations and people around you the rest of your life. This experience, or should I say … these experiences … will infinitely be ingrained in your psyche. The science of many things you don’t understand and can’t understand will be perceived until future generations can decipher the greater science of the world around us as we take a look at both history and the present world we live in also.

You see, the creation of aikido was out of the need to keep a martial practice alive, as there is a science to the human body, and a science to the interaction as well as the nature of human-kind’s social interactions.

The eternity it takes for you to train .. is an illusion.

The pain you feel is unimportant in the light that humanity will be a footnote in the history of planet earth. The only importance your training has … is relevant to your existence in this timeline … and that timeline is your life from the time you are born to the time you die. It is a selfish pursuit of self, and yet … and yet … we are attempting to go beyond the self and somehow affect the greater majority of the human race.

I know, you are confused, right?

Well, we can’t fix everything. There must be evil, and death, and the horrific things that repulse us, just as WE must create peace, kindness, pockets of civilization enjoying a golden age also.

The sword that gives life and takes life is not just a fable, but a reflection of nature itself. YOU .. the student … must not let your mind become stuck in the physical practice of aikido … but go beyond the words and physical practice and seek the wider and deeper meaning of life, of history, or science as you find the truth that can never be hidden or destroyed. NATURE and SCIENCE will always be around even if planet earth dies and life springs anew somewhere else in the universe around us.

I think of the universe as a drop in the ocean. We cannot see beyond our drop, and our universe is just one drop of creation in a great ocean … imagine how science and perception intersect when your mind realizes how to apply your lessons in ten different ways to not only your life but to confirm that lesson with science and knowledge also?

Volcanoes, Meteors, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, and god only knows the pestilence of disease that has come and gone over hundreds of years or what is to come … and all the while …. you are attempting to turn the mind and hearts of the human race to a better more positive place by learning to be violent without using violence? Are you crazy? Probably …

The FOUNDER … gave us a task. We who practice aikido are to take our practice to heart and to learn not just the ways of human nature but to seek the greater knowledge of the universe around us so we can advance the human race in a manner that understand both science and nature. Maybe we will learn things we don’t understand, but then if we use these things in harmony with nature, and seek the creative forces of nature while understanding the destructive side of not only nature but of human nature itself …. we will affect change in the world that takes the future to a better place.

Have you seen the COLOR OF WAR for the history channel bringing World War II to us in living color? That is just film, not the actual experiences of war. Imagine, if you can, all people living today having to go through those experiences. YOUR illusions of peace is just that … an illusion. Nature will destroy all you have created as it gives rebirth to something new and different, and there is nothing you can do about it but change, adapt, and rebuild each and every time.

Such is the lesson … of Aikido. You win and you continually lose … as you rebuild time and time and time again. Don’t be discouraged … such is the nature of your existence.

It, your hopes and dreams you keep hidden deep within your mind, is an illusion that all things will stay as they are today.

It is an illusion that human beings will exist in the environment we live in today, but … nature is changing the very environment we have lived in over thousands of years, and indeed our human body may not be able to exist in the nature of the world to come in 100,000 years. Your relevance to training is relevant to the world that exists in your lifetime. It is the world of TODAY!

So, learn your lessons well.

See the good, the bad, the positive, the negative, and how it affects the changes in society by learning your lessons as you live your life.

Every single time I did a class .. my mind thought .. this is taking forever! Now that I can’t play or take class as I once did … I think … was it all an illusion?

No … it was real … and Aikido continues to affect not only my life, but the way I affect the lives of those around me. Isn’t that what taking class was all about anyway? Just a thought …. Enjoy your next Aikido class.

Comments

I might be missing something by simplifying things. My simplicity – aikido is a martial art. It is about, when push comes to shove, improving your odds. To the extent that you can get past the rush of thoughts (this isn’t real. it’s not happening. why me?), emotions (fear, anger), and extraneous sensations (pain), you’ll be better able to deal with the situation. Training helps to the extent that you have to deal with that stuff on the mat. Of course training also imparts techniques.

Now, when some of the mental mess is cleared out of the way your perceptions are likely to be less cluttered. We aren’t computers, but try shutting down all the programs and windows you aren’t using right now and see how much quicker yours works.

Folks can justifiably be fascinated with the uncluttered view of life and aikido is hardly the only Way to get there (tea, calligraphy, zen meditation…). It isn’t even the only martial art to take you there. Archery or marksmanship, either Japanese or western are pretty easy examples. The techniques are few and simple. Mastery depends on cutting down the mental clutter and ‘just do it’. Aikido only happens to be the one we do, or we probably wouldn’t be here discussing it.

So, what’s this eternity stuff? I really don’t know. Imported dogma? In the uncluttered mind state, though, you might not know or care much what time it is.

The uncluttered mind … somebody gag me .. the uncluttered mind is both a release from narrow regimented education that keeps you from realizing just how big the puzzle is, and it also puts you in a box .. to KEEP YOU FROM REALIZING how big the puzzle is.

The trick is .. and it is ain’t easy, …is to be able to take the clutter and either ignore it because it is clutter, or put it aside UNTIL it actually makes sense and becomes organized.

Nature and science has created a purpose for everything, as large or as small at that purpose may be.

YOU, the person, may or may not every realize those purposes.

I don’t expect everyone to grasp what I am writing, but I do expect a few will reach that point where … they do.

A point where science explains the illusions of the human mind missing out on nature of the universe, and a point where the students of aikido finally understand the writings of the founder, or at least a couple of them do and there is clarity for a change.

The more you understand science and the history of planet earth, the more you understand the weird legends and words that people left for us to read, because their literal interpretation of what they saw, experienced or heard in stories is not always accurate.

Simplicity does have it merits, but eventually the complications build up around you and you have to simply .. deal with complications … dammit! (and I mean that most amusingly)

At the end of the day, I wonder .. can I adapt the customs of Japanese into a format of my American melting pot life without all the pomp, pagentry, and cermony? Yep, some things work, some things don’t … lots to learn, lots to do, and it is not as simple as giving up, cause past, present, and future all contribute to the fabric of our lives.